Don't try so hard

If I had to give advice to someone trying, unsuccessfully, to lower his or her times, this would be it. When you stop trying so hard, it just happens.

I PRed at 750 meters in the pool yesterday. I broke my previous pool time at this distance by 4 seconds (or 5 on my coach's watch). And I did it by swimming long and relaxed, working a bit harder only in the last 50 meters or so. It was fun, it wasn't particularly hard and it was very unexpected -- I wasn't trying for a PR. When I told my coach how I'd done it, he wasn't surprised. He told me that that's the secret to swimming faster -- just relax.

And I'm still not completely back in shape. Ha! Just wait until I'm in my best form!